PULLMAN, Wash. -The Washington State University women's soccer team will head off to Seattle later this week to participate in the Husky Nike Invitational.

The two opponents figure to be tough opponents for WSU. Portland (4-4-1) leads the all-time series winning all seven matches, while the Cougs are 2-1 all time against UC Irvine. WSU plays Portland on Friday at 1 p.m. and Sunday against UC Irvine at 11 a.m.

Portland, who competed in the 1998 NCAA Final Four, will look to Vanessa Talbot to get them going offensively. Through nine games, Talbot has tallied six goals. The leading playmaker for the Pilots is Kylee Barton who has six assists in addition to one goal.

"Result-wise, they are not getting the results they normally get at this point in the season, but they have such a quality program and such quality players that it is going to be a tough match," said WSU coach Dan Tobias.

UC Irvine (4-3-2) uses a balanced attack to lead the way. Cyndi Treadway leads the Anteaters in scoring with three goals and six other players have lit up the scoreboard.

"UC Irvine was the Big West Conference runner-up," Tobias said. "That is a good conference with a lot of good players. I feel like I keep repeating myself, but those are going to be two very difficult teams.

Pac-10 Notes

Forward Deka DeWitt (Auburn, Wash.) moved into fourth place on the Pac-10 scoring list with 16 points. DeWitt is four points behind Arizona State's Stacey Tullock. DeWitt is also tied for first in assists (4) and tied for fourth with six goals.

Christina Pallan (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Katrina Stroh (Federal Way, Wash.) have moved into the top 25 on the Pac-10 scoring list. Pallan (3 goals-3assists-9 points) is tied for 11th and Stroh (3-2-8) is tied for 17th. Pallan is also tied for seventh with her three assists.

Goalkeeper Lindsey Jorgensen's (North Bend, Wash.) 47 saves places her two saves behind Arizona State's Erin Reinke for the conference lead
The Cougars' 20 goals ties them for second in the league, while their 56 total points ranks them fourth.

Roster Moves

Sophomore midfielder Valerie Whitemaine (Redmond, Wash.) has left the team for personal reasons. Whitemaine played in 11 games last season, scoring one goal and assisting on another. She started 10 games before she suffered a stained quadricep muscle that forced her to miss the remainder of the season. Whitemaine also had off-season surgery on her knee, which kept her out of the lineup this year.

"It was her decision to leave," Tobias said. "Val had a really good freshman season and I know the team wishes her nothing but the best.

Kelly is sitting out the season due to NCAA transfer rules after coming to WSU from Santa Monica College.

Millspaugh will miss the season due to a back injury that has kept her sidelined through the team's first eight games. Millspaugh has missed most training sessions and conditioning was also a factor in her decision to redshirt.